During their official visit of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, which took place on 6-10 May 1991, Prince Charles and Lady Diana visited the Prague War Cemetery where many Commonwealth soldiers are buried. The photograph depicts the royal couple looking at the tombstones.
The British royal couple came to Czechoslovakia at the invitation of President Václav Havel. The President and his wife Olga welcomed them ceremonially at the Prague Castle. It was not a political visit as the members of the British royal family cannot get involved in politics. In the dialogues Prince Charles showed an interest in the withdrawal of the Soviet troops from Czechoslovakia and in the country’s ecological situation. Later the royal couple visited Wenceslas Square in Prague where Prince Charles paid tribute to the victory of the fight against totalitarianism and the fight for civil liberties and human rights. Prince Charles also met political representatives of Czechoslovakia in Prague, Bratislava, and Brno. During the following five years Prince Charles visited Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic three times.
Video from the visit is available here (with Czech commentary):
Photographs from Prince Charles’ visits to the Czech Republic are shown below.
Prague War Cemetery, visited by Prince Charles and Lady Diana in 1991, is part of Olšanské hřbitovy (Olšanské Cemetery) in Prague. It is located on the local cemetery II, the burial grounds for soldiers from World Wars I and II. This cemetery is also a place of burial of Czech legionaries and victims of the Prague Uprising. It has been a national cultural monument since 1978.
Information from the chapel at the cemetery:
“During the Second World War 6 sailors, 188 soldiers, 39 airmen and 31 unidentified servicemen, all from the armed forces of the Commonwealth, were buried in Czechoslovakia. The sailors, almost all the soldiers and some of the airmen were prisoners of war, captured in various campaigns, who died in prison camps. Most of the airmen were casualties of the strategic bombing offensive against military and industrial targets and lines of communication in German-occupied Europe. Others were lost in long-range missions, flown at heavy cost in men and aircraft, from bases in Italy to drop supplies to the Polish Home Army during the ill-fated Warsaw uprising between 1 August and 3 October 1944.
After the war all tombs, originally in numerous small cemeteries scattered throughout Czechoslovakia, were brought to the Prague War Cemetery. A total of 264 tombs comprises 198 members of the British forces, 9 Canadians, 2 Australians, 14 New Zealanders, 19 South Africans, 1 Indian and 8 Poles; 13 tombs are unidentified.”
“The land on which this cemetery stands is the gift of the people of Czechoslovakia for the perpetual resting place of the sailors, soldiers and airmen who are honoured here.”
Picture gallery from the cemetery is to be found here.